Description:
Are you struggling with a saggy middle?
Figuring out to fix it can feel daunting if you don't have a place to start.
Try these 3 ways to strengthen your plot!
Listen
You are listening to The Novel Writing Podcast, Episode 169.
I'm your host, Colleen Mitchell. Grab a cup, cozy up, and let's get to writing!
Today we're going to talk about 3 ways to strengthen your plot. If you suffer from the saggy middle, which many of us do especially on the first draft, strengthening the plot can help tighten up those literary ab muscles.
Number 1: Clarify the Midpoint
Oftentimes with saggy middles, the midpoint itself is the problem. No matter which story structure you're using, the midpoint is a turning point that sometimes gets ignored during the outlining phase (if you outlined at all), and it's hard to nail if you're writing as a pure discovery writer.
The midpoint is the anchor of the 2nd act (that is, the midpoint is right in the middle of the 2nd act) and it acts like the spine to the whole story. In general, the midpoint marks the point in the book where the protagonist changes from reacting to events to being proactive about their situation.
If your midpoint is weak, the 2nd half of the book will meander rather than get to the point of the climax.
Questions to ask yourself about your midpoint:
✅ Does my midpoint mark a significant shift?
✅ Is my protagonist realizing something new (about themselves or the world)?
✅ Does it increase the urgency of the story?
✅ Does it make the second half of the middle feel different from the first half of the middle (AKA, the first and second halves of the 2nd act)?
✅ Is my protagonist moving from reactive to proactive?
Common events at midpoints include parties, funerals, celebratory events, or anything, really, as long as a powerful turning point takes place.
If you are struggling with developing a strong plot, The 60-Day Novel Writing Challenge can guide you step by step to build a powerful story while making steady progress on your draft at the same time.
Number 2: Raise the Stakes
Ask yourself if the stakes are high enough. Stakes are the things at risk in the story, whether it's someone's life, reputation, possibly losing a love interest, failing an important exam, passing an interview, etc. The stakes are the things that keep readers interested, because we want to know what the protagonist might lose out on if they fail in their goal.
For example, one of the highest stakes in my first book was my main character's father's life. The possibility of losing her father (again) drives Emma to work harder to learn the magic that she needs to learn in order to address that stake.
When you don't have high enough stakes, the story feels boring.
Again, it depends on your genre, so the stakes in a small-town romance aren't going to be as dramatic as the stakes in a full-blown space opera. The setting matters, but what matters more than the stakes themselves are the emotions evoked in the characters by those stakes.
For example, my main character Emma possibly wouldn't have cared enough about her father's life being on the line if she didn't love him.
Raising the stakes means you might have to dig deeper into your characters' motivations, and finding out what they really care about. Once you know that, then you put that thing at risk.
Something we joke about a lot in our accountability coaching group is putting our main characters through traumatic events so that they come back stronger than before. You gotta break the glow stick to make it glow! Introducing higher stakes and then potentially making your characters lose out on those things is one way to do that.
Number 3: Increase the Obstacles
High stakes are one thing, but they don't operate alone. In order for stakes to truly be high, the obstacles also have to make sense.
In my first book, the high stakes of Emma's father's life being at risk wouldn't be impactful if she could just use easy magic to negate the threat to his life. The obstacle she was up against was a prophecy showing her father's death, and in my world, all prophecies come true. So she has even more motivation to find a solution—not just because of the high stakes, but also the seemingly insurmountable obstacle in the way of saving him.
Halie has another example of this in The 60 Day Novel Writing Challenge videos. If you are looking for the cure to cancer, and it's literally just down the street, there are no obstacles. If your obstacle is a broken ankle on the way, the obstacle doesn't match or exceed the severity of the stakes.
Of course, there are a plethora of other ways to strengthen your plot, but starting with these three will give you a jumping off point for future fixes.
That's it for today's episode! Thanks for joining me, and remember, the first draft is supposed to be garbage.
Show Notes
Dive into the first episode of the Novel Writing Podcast with your host Colleen and her sometimes-guest Halie Fewkes Damewood! Here, we give you the gist of who we are, what we do, and what you can expect from this podcast.
What to do next…
Halie & Colleen are both authors! Find their books below:
Secrets of the Tally, by Halie Fewkes Damewood
The Chronicles of Talahm, by Colleen Mitchell
Comments